A school with no pencils...

A school with no pencils, paper, windows, text books, desks, electricity or water. This is Katalumba School (300 students) built by the community so their small children do not have to walk 1.5 hours to the next nearest school. This year we are fundraising to hopefully supply paper, pencils, and text books.

David (UN) writes .."OK everyone, listen up. Development. It’s really all about education. And kids are where we start! Somewhere out there is the next Einstein, the next Nobel laureate, a future great leader, or simply a great kid hoping for the opportunity of a better education. Not a hand-out. An opportunity! Katalumba is a fee paying school built by the community to give their children that opportunity. We can help make it even better! This community has a population of 3000, though students from other neighborhoods attend this school as well. The employment rate is 3%.

For $1500 they could get text books, pencils and writing books for the kids. An additional $500 they could set up the teachers with some much needed teaching aids, and the children could have some extras like rulers, poster paints... Another $1000 could start a small library collection. If they could get more than that they would get windows with burglar bars, desks and a chair and table for the teachers. Down the road the school dreams of building more classrooms - grades 4 and up. When they can eventually upgrade the school to government standards, the government will then adopt the school! That opens many more doors!"

Malambo Grassroots

D Street Media NY to help S. African kids with Stargazer premiere

D Street  Media NY is planning a fundraiser for Rose USA parter  Education without Borders in conjunction with their USA launching of the late 2011 film 'Stargazer'

D Street Media Group will host a benefit fundraiser along side it’s November 29th 2012 premiere of ‘Stargazer’ (Roepman), which screened at the Vancouver South African Film Festival earlier this year. The beautifully produced movie will be the first ever Afrikaans language movie to be released in North America.

D Street is also giving the young talent of South Africa some international exposure and has asked the Fekeza Secondary School Choir to record a song for the soundtrack of an upcoming feature film. The choir will record the song with one of the top South African recording artist and television personalities.


"It is one of the two or three best South African movies I have ever seen. 
 29 August 2011 | JeffersonCody (South Africa)"


D Street Media Group is a production company and distributor of independent and international film. It values a socially responsible approach to doing business and doing its part to make the world better for everyone. The company believes in the power of storytelling and in our efforts to bring international films to the U.S. we hope to promote understanding and goodwill around the world.

 for more information, please contact John Henry Jordaan on behalf of D Street Media Group: jordaan.jh@dstreetmediagroup.com

Donate to  Rose USA -EWB Project(s)

From Guatemala - Safe Motherhood Project: 20 Feb 2012

SafeMotherhood Project Guatemala

Feb 20, 2012

Saludos de Guatemala:

Both of us began our course today along with our Guatemalan teammates.  We have 15 students of which 10 are practicing birth attendants, 2 are new comadronas, and the rest are staff at the small hospital where we are teaching.

We want to offer our input on the questions you asked.

1.       We developed this project in response to a request from a committee of birth attendants in the department of Solola, Guatemala.  In this rural area which is predominantly Mayan, 70 percent of women birth at home assisted by a birth attendant or “comadrona” as they are called. Local maternal mortality rate was 3 times higher than the reported national rate and the committee was concerned.

2.      In the department of Solola 70 percent of women birth at home under the care of a comadrona.  There are two systems of health care in Guatemala.  A public system provided by the government and a private system driven by physicians.

In the public system health services are free of charge theoretically; however, the facilities have few resources and lack medications and supplies.  Staff  have good knowledge but very little practical experience when they graduate from their health program.  Each department in Guatemala has one funded national hospital.  Each municipality has a public health center or health post.  For most communities, the hospital is several hours away on dangerous mountain roads.  A woman can access birth control free of charge at the public health centres.  We believe that the funding for this program comes from an NGO and not primarily the government.  Contraceptive use is increasing over time, but more education is needed especially for the men.  A pregnant woman can receive prenatal care from the health centre where she can get vaccinated, and also from her comadrona. The number of women seeking prenatal care is also increasing, but there are still several women whose first contact with care is when they go into labor.  The health centre have personnel available 24h per day and women are encouraged to go there for their delivery, but there is no advantage over a home birth because the health centres are so poorly equipped.

3.      Our Guatemalan colleague, Cenaida, contacts the nursing director at the public health centre who then contacts all the known comadronas in the community and invites them to our course. Whoever shows up on the first day is accommodated up to a maximum of 35 students per class.  A class size of 20 is better due to the practical nature of our course. 

We have also accepted students who are first aid attendants, community health promoters, and firemen who provide the ambulance service in various communities.

4.      Our course outline is available on our website at www.safemotherhoodproject.org.

We now give a five day course instead of the four day course provided.  The content is the same but with 5 days we have more time for discussion and practice.

The resources we use are described below:

We have a manual to complement the course content designed for students who can’t read.  It is adapted from a manual developed in the ‘70s by UNICEF.  For those who can read it also has script.  We would be happy to share this manual.

We use 3 Simulaid obstetrical pelvic models. They include wearable pregnant bellies with baby and fluid for determining fetal position.

Television and DVD player.  The DVDs we show are The Stages of Labor, and Successful Breastfeeding from InJoy media.

We use 4 resuscibabies from Laerdal for teaching neonatal resuscitation.

We have samples of contraceptive methods

We have knitted breasts for demonstrating a good latch for breastfeeding

We use clinical supplies for examining real prenatal patients like BP cuff, stethoscope, Pinard horn, Doppler, measuring tape. Mattresses and sheets.

We use pitchers and soap and nail clipper and nail brushes.

We also use birthing supplies for demonstration including headlamp, cord ties, scissors, gloves, Q tips and Alcohol, Erythromycin ophthalmic ointment, a camp stove, a pot and 2 forks, a plastic sheet for the bed, and an apron.

We have posters of anatomy, stages of pregnancy, contraception, emergency planning, and obstetrical risks.

We ask the community to provide a room big enough for the class, a bathroom, and a water supply, and electricity.

Hasta pronto,

Annette & Ruth

Letter from a Malambo Grassroots Zambia volunteer

Hi there everyone, Happy New Year !

Thought it about time for a letter - our email has been not working but I am on the farm now on a borrowed computer - luxury! I shall attempt some other email suitable for ROSE publishing - but this is more just to keep touch with you all more personally.

I am at last getting my feet on the ground. Since I arrived the temperature has not gone below 100 – and has been, frequently, a lot higher. I arrived to find John with his rash again- convinced he was being eaten from the inside out by bugs which were laying eggs in him.. I have at last figured out it is not bugs, but what my grandfather used to have – prickly heat – and it can be treated with antihistamines - so I got a prescription from my aunt and he is much better. 5 dips a day in a pool or shower helps too. Siavonga is much hotter than Monze...

It's been good to be here. I'm a bit split between Monze and Siavonga - the reality of trying to get on our financial feet here in Zambia as well as roll on with our projects. The first part has not happened - so far we just spend money. The second part much easier...

Up early every morning, cappuccino near the pool as we watch the birds and hope for the hippo/croc, and then busy for the rest of the day. We have had a lot of guests, so although we have not left to go to Lusaka for supplies, we are not at all isolated. Every one brings us supplies and our fridges and freezer as a result are loaded.

I have started teaching the woman who works for us (Maureen) how to do rung hooking – with the idea of rugs as an income generating group. She is choosing other women to join with her and she is teaching them. I think I will suggest each woman works individually rather than a cooperative as I have found my papier mache group (works individually) more motivated and problem solving than our cooperative group. Makes sense I guess. She is a good teacher as she is fussy and has been in the community a long time. I still need to get to know more people. So far she has some ladies who don't speak English - so it works well that she can help me with translations.

I am starting with fabric donated from set dec – so the start up expense is mostly time and designs, not money luckily as we don't have much. They are proud as punch with what they are doing – nice to see - though they are all rather dubious regarding if things will sell. And although they enjoy doing it - the process - the idea of a hobby of any kind is not around. While the people in the village are intrigued - they also think it a waist of time - so we shall see. This is a very different community from the farm which is used to these ideas. (excuse the rotten spelling) In Monze we have been doing this for a while so women are used to the idea of selling things they make - in Siavonga where there is high unemployment, when I ask what people are doing, I often get the response 'just sitting'

There is a market day this coming Saturday and I will take up the pieces the women have made and do some market research and then we shall be able to evaluate. I am also experimenting with a paper pulp idea (very low monetary input). As we have this base in Siavonga which is tourist oriented (but no craft industry), and because unemployment is huge, I thought being self employed making and selling things might work well. We have spoken to council regarding a plot suitable for a common craft market - but this is really a far hope. But there are enough hotels around for people to flog their wears. (Please excuse appauling spelling - I am on a dutch computer which corrects my spelling and between that and my atrocious spelling - it all just gets worse.

A kind contact has lent us some large earth moving equipment for 2 weeks with 3 drivers to level the ground and pick up rocks, sand and cement. This has motivated John to expand his project list. It has also resulted in us hiring a lot of people – we have about 16 guys now, and each morning we have a huge crowd at the gate asking for work. It’s hard to say no – I feel bad for them. Such a huge need for jobs. And the people we have now work very hard, come early and leave late. John figured out what he thought minimium should be so people can cover living expenses and education costs for kids and so we pay accordingly. The minimum rate here is not livable - as you probably know.

We are also repairing the walls surrounding the land that got a huge pounding in June July this year. The wind storms were so huge that waves were going right over our neighbor's house, and their parents, who live further back from the lake, had waves pounding through their house and hitting the back wall of their living room. No one remembers storms this big before. So really our first priority is strengthening the walls around the land. We lost meters and meters to the lake.

We have Heidi coming out mid month next month. So I prepare for that. John and I working on getting all the customs papers for the container she has sent full of musical instruments for the music school - I never want to do this again. A very slow process and painful process.

I have touched base with our 4 income generating groups. Our chicken ladies need to expand – they sell out regularly and the villagers complain that there are not enough eggs. So we have strategized how to do this. We have to wait until August when the next group of chicks will be ready.

The papier mache goes very well as well – total sell out every time – so that too is expanding and we discussed how to do a skills test for an interview. They are also asking for input on designs as a British woman has asked for an order of 45 bowls with butterflies. So I go down later today to work this out with them. A second international order has just come in as well.


The original textile group has had a bit of a rocky time as leadership has been up and down with the effects of AIDs – but they are on treatment now so things improve I hope - though they have a big burden trying to do this while ill, and all of life's other difficulties. We have quite a few orders for them so things get busy.

We are also reaching our 20th anniversary on the 2 Feb and so will be celebrating with a cooking competition – we discussed the menu yesterday – all traditional dishes and the judges will be 3 Tonga women from outside the community. One who runs a restaurant and is huge fun, one who runs a cultural center and radio station ( I will ask if she can film it as well), and I am hoping my friend from Choma who runs a craft store and works with anthropologists. She has done a number of workshops with these groups so they know her well. We also invite the Dutch ambassador and I will do an exhibition of crafts and photos so they can see the fruit of their donation all these years later– they generously funded our center to be built and cut the ribbon when we opened.

We are also going to train 2 more young women in pattern making and tailoring with a view to broaden and improve the product line for this group. Of the original group, about 14 old ladies remain (many died or retired) and then we have a large number of women in their early 20's. I wish we had funds for a VSO volunteer who could help us, or a volunteer in design and marketing. I applied last year and they were keen to give us a volunteer but as the global economy has tightened, they now want the indigenous organization to pay the wages which is beyond us. However the work load is large and I still have this ticking over in my mind.

Our last group also thrives. Last year a woman I work with on our Barbie shoots funded a young 19 year old in a year long training in tailoring. She has now completed, and has returned to this group – and their works improves by leaps and bounds - tho she still needs more training. So from this we have decided to send a couple more young women who can perhaps help the original group improve too. This also helps balance that there are few girls being further educated as the schools expel them when they get pregnant. So the drop out rate for girls is high (include the fact that parents support boys more fully than girls for further education)

The scholarship program takes a lot of work. I get the more enjoyable part of it as participants just want to chat to me and let me know how they are doing. It’s fabulous seeing how well they do. Later I will be going tho the book keeping and trying to do a bit of a breakdown on what our graduates from past years are doing now. As I am between Siavonga and Monze I can't help much this year as I loose all the threads on the applications.

John also takes on projects. He is busy trying to figure out how to get a pump donated and transported here to take water up from the lake to the large village next to us who have very little access to water (I'd think about 3000 plus people). He also is working on a second container to come over in a year, with hospital equipment for Monze hospital, the paraplegic center in Monze and a handicapped center in Mazabuka which my sister and a friend have started building. However his Vancouver rotary contact seems to be backing out after being very enthusiastic to start.

I am getting to know a Zambian Open Community School - just near by in Siavonga. Hopefully we will start supporting what they do too. Plus the child headed house holds school in Monze...So we are busy! All round. Trying to balance how to live here as well as all the projects. Makes things interesting.

Hope you are all well...

J


Malambo Grassroots website

African Nights 2011 'The Movie !'

Teaching in Haiti Dec 2011: Doug Campbell writes...

 Haiti for me was an emotional rollercoaster. A land of despair, poverty, mayhem but also a land of hope, optimism and pride. These last 3 sentiments are what stick with me as I reflect on my experience. After all, it is the people that leave an impact on you.

When I was planning the trip I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I had never travelled to a 3rd world country before, let alone one that has been

devastated by a massive earthquake and is still struggling to recover.  The airport was a typical chaotic scene for a small carribean country, but as I travelled into the Heart of Port-au-Prince I was struck by the massive tent cities, line ups at watering stations, chaos of the driving, etc. Yet throughout this atmosphere was the continued activity of daily life. The boys and girls coming home from school neatly dressed with colorful clothing, the merchants on the street selling fruit, etc. Haiti was continuing on despite much of the damage from the earthquake still obvious almost 2 years after the fact.

The teaching our team carried out, filled us with hope and optimism for the future. Nurses and physicians travelled from across the country every day to participate in our teaching sessions on how to become instructors in newborn resuscitation, followed by them teaching the sessions themselves. The students were not shy about jumping in and taking control of a situation. Their passion was evident in how they imparted knowledge to their colleagues. The pride on their faces was clear.

The most touching moment for me was at the end of the teaching one day when the students (now teachers themselves) sang us a song. Then a senior nurse came over to us and said:   "Thank you. Thank you for not just giving us some fish, but for teaching us HOW TO FISH."  That's when I knew that our team had made a difference, perhaps small but real nonetheless.

Rose Charities Malaysia's help for Thai flood victims

"Regarding the Thai Flood Aid Appeal, we have managed to send 20 cartons of quaker OATS ( each weighing 25 kgs), buscuits , etc to Bangkok via St.John Ambulance Co-ordinating Centre in :Penang . They will send by road to Hatyai where the Thai

military trucks will take delivery of the goods to Bangkok for distribution to the flood victims....

 

Another big shipment of buscuits and other food products will be sent next week to Helpage International in Bangkook .....will advise further in due course...."